Recreation and Delinquency

Abstract

prevention worth so much (8: 86). Perhaps even more significant were the various emergency programs initiated during the war years, which pointed up in no uncertain manner our lack of adequate recreational opportunities and subsequently stimulated the development of new and valuable methods of making provisions for recreation. Steiner has estimated that the total annual cost of recreation in the United States during the decade ending in 1930 amounted to $o10,65,857,000. An amount approximating $883,071,ooo was spent for games, sports, outdoor life, and other forms of recreation which are essentially the activities of physical education (9: 183). There is reason to believe that these figures were dwarfed by the amounts expended during the war years. Yet we may question whether the financial disbursements for recreation have yielded the expected returns in solving the problem of juvenile delinquency! We might even inquire whether the amounts appropriated are proving effective in combating what appears to be a laxity in the promotion of adequate recreational facilities. That recreation has been a neglected orphan and has even been considered a fad or frill in some states, from the standpoint of organization, administration, and supervision, is amply supported.